


"At least he doesn't know chivalry's dead."

by bellamie_blake



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Everyone ships it (except maybe Deke), F/M, Missing Scene, Temporary Character Death, Time Loop, everyone sees it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:28:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26045017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellamie_blake/pseuds/bellamie_blake
Summary: Everyone can see something growing between Daisy and Sousa. Their developing love story from the POV of the various team members. Each chapter is set in a different episode.
Relationships: Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie/Yo Yo Rodriguez, Jemma Simmons & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons, Skye | Daisy Johnson/Daniel Sousa
Comments: 36
Kudos: 186





	1. Deke - 7x06

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently I don't sleep anymore, I just write fanfic until the early hours of the morning. This was a prompt from @mxltifndmz on tumblr, and it was both fun and frustrating to write. Hope you enjoy.

Deke approached the lab, seeing Daisy lying in the healing chamber. Jemma was standing over her, inputting data on her tablet, and Sousa was sitting nearby. Deke's heart ached at seeing Daisy so injured. How could someone do that to her?

“We’re about to jump,” he informed them, and turned to walk away. He caught the expression on Sousa’s face just before he left the room. An expression filled with concern and admiration, his eyes not leaving Daisy’s damaged form. Deke knew that look, had been the bearer of that look for a long time. The look of someone who saw Daisy for the incredible force of nature that she was.

Deke had known for a while that Daisy would never see him as anything more than a teammate, if even that. He had mostly come to terms with it, although she still held a place in his heart. She always would.

He hadn’t expected someone to come along and look at her the same way he did.


	2. Mack & Elena - 7x08

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mack and Elena make a bet.

After spending two days at Afterlife, reliving her past and worrying about her team, Elena was enormously relieved to have a moment to breathe after stopping the time drive. She wasn’t sure what their next move was, but she had her powers back (even better than before) and they had stopped jumping. For now, things were good.

She found Mack in the cockpit, and settled into the chair beside him. He smiled as she approached, and reached over and took her hand.

“I knew you could do it,” he said, looking over at her. “Never any doubt.”

“I had doubts,” she replied honestly. “A lot of them.”

“And you did it anyway. Because you’re incredible.” He squeezed her hand, and she marveled once again at the fact that she could actually feel his touch.

They sat in silence for a little while, just enjoying each other’s company and the peace of the moment.

“Where is everyone?” Elena asked, suddenly realizing how quiet the ship was.

“Well, Deke and Enoch are checking the time drive. Coulson is recharging, literally. Daisy is healing and Sousa is standing guard over the healing pod. Man, he’s got it bad for her already. And Jemma -- “

“Wait. Sousa? Has got it bad for Daisy? No way.”

“Oh, yes way. I’m telling you. I can see it in his face, he thinks the world of her,” Mack insisted. “I think Daisy is probably starting to be into him, too. Don’t think she’s put much thought into yet, you know, with all the near death experiences and all. But I saw a spark.”

“Come on, no way. They barely know each other,” Elena shook her head in disbelief. 

“Well, I guess we’ll just see. Care to make it interesting? Twenty bucks says that something ends up happening between those two.” Mack raised his eyebrow in a teasing challenge. 

Elena laughed. “Oh, you’re on," she agreed, and leaned in and kissed him.


	3. May - 7x09

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> May feels something.

“I’ve got damage to nearly all systems,” Mack reported.

“Trying to get a read on our location.” May pressed buttons on the control panel, but nothing came up. They were nowhere? That didn’t make sense. What was happening?

Even as she felt Mack’s frustration, mingling with her own as they tried to find answers, she felt something else, something strong. Attraction? Desire. An odd sense of peace amidst the chaos. And then immediately following that, the feeling of being surprised, mingled with another burst of attraction, of wanting, responding to the other sense of desire eagerly. Somewhere on the ship, two of her teammates were having a very nice moment, and they were both enjoying it immensely. 

She shook her head to clear the distraction and focus on the task at hand. A few moments later, Daisy came bursting into the room and slammed her hand on the button to close the cockpit door. Sousa entered not far behind her.

May instantly recognized the attraction and desire from both of them, stronger now that they were in the same room as her. Something had happened between them, and May couldn’t say she was surprised. She had noticed Sousa developing feelings for Daisy in the past several days, though she tried to ignore it as best she could - this ability was becoming a bit of a nuisance. 

Thankfully, the intimate feelings mostly faded as the more pressing emotions of worry and determination took their place. Daisy was explaining that they were in a time loop and they needed to work quickly to get Yo-Yo, wake Coulson, and maneuver Enoch into place so Daisy could work on Jemma uninterrupted. The team rushed into action with no time to lose.

As May headed to the Quinjet to grab Yo-Yo, she thought maybe she’d ask Daisy about it sometime, if they ever had a moment to breathe after all the danger and chaos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, technically May wouldn't remember this scene, since the time loop resets after this. But I liked the concept that she knew something was happening between them here, so I went with it.


	4. Jemma - 7x10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma sees it, and she ships it.

“Can I take that off your hands?” Sousa asked. 

“Um, I got it. Thanks.” 

Jemma turned to see Sousa offering a hand to her best friend, wanting to relieve her of the bag she carried. Daisy turned the offer down, but there was a note in her voice that hadn’t been there before. 

Jemma knew that Daisy had lived through several repeated time loops in her struggle to save them all from being erased from existence. The rest of the team only remembered the final loop, lasting less than an hour, but Daisy had experienced a much longer passage of time. For Coulson, who remembered each and every loop, it had been even longer. What a nightmare for the both of them.

Daisy was different, changed from her ordeal. It was subtle, but Jemma knew her friend so well, knew her like a sister, and so she noticed. Daisy had suffered, both physically and emotionally. Though her body was healed now, her mind and her soul were recovering from what she had seen, and what she’d had to do, all leading up to losing Enoch in the end. Daisy would never admit it, but the experience had taken a toll on her.

Beyond that, though, Jemma also noticed that there was a slight difference in the way she regarded Sousa now. She didn’t know what, but she suspected something might have happened in those endless lost hours that only Daisy remembered. She noticed a softness in Daisy’s expression when she looked at him. She had also been noticing the way Sousa looked at Daisy, ever since he’d sat by her side and told Jemma he wasn’t leaving to stay in the seventies, because he was where he needed to be. 

There was something between them, and Jemma noticed it. And she was glad. She remembered her best friend, drugged on alien puffies (well, she had been drugged too, so her memory was hazy, but she did remember it). They had been sitting beneath a table and Daisy had confessed that she wanted her own Fitz, her own partner. Jemma wanted that for her too, and for the first time in a long time, she thought that maybe it could happen for her.

And if it was Daniel Sousa, well, Jemma had to admit, he was a good catch. Not only was he an agency legend, but he was extraordinarily handsome, as well. And he had endured an enormous amount of suffering when he'd carried Daisy off of that farm on his prosthetic leg with no support after their kidnapping. Jemma would always be grateful to him for getting Daisy home.

“Just thought I’d put some weight on the new leg, is all,” Sousa rationalized his request, framing it as a favor to himself and not diminishing Daisy’s ability to take care of herself. Jemma felt a surge of respect for the man, not for the first time since he’d joined the team. 

“O...kay, thank you,” Daisy acquiesced, passing her bag to him. Her eyes followed him as he exited the room, and once he had left, she turned to face Jemma, a slight smile on her face as her eyes met Jemma’s knowing gaze.

“What?” she demanded, deflecting, but the smile didn’t completely go away.

“Say what you will about the fifties, at least he doesn’t know chivalry’s dead,” Jemma remarked.

Daisy took a deep breath, shook herself a little. “Okay, anyway,” she said, changing the subject, and Jemma didn’t press the topic any further.


	5. Coulson - 7x11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coulson remembers the time loops.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is technically set in episode 7x11 but focuses mainly on a memory set in 7x09.

Coulson watched as the Quinjet dropped off radar.  _ Go get ‘em, Daisy, _ he thought. He didn’t know if the pride he felt was just lines of code, and for once he didn’t care. She had come so far since he’d plucked her out of that van years ago, and he was grateful to be here to see her being so strong, even if he was some kind of robot.

“First Simmons and Deke, now Mack and Daisy,” May sighed.

_ And Sousa, _ he thought.  _ Watching her back, once again.  _ Coulson had admired him for years, and it had been a dream come true to have a chance to actually meet him, even if Sousa had been arresting him at the time. It had been a good move on Mack’s part to save him. Since he’d joined the team, he’d proved to be a valuable asset, not just because of his skills as an agent, but because of his unwavering devotion to keeping Daisy safe. 

\-----

_ Coulson remembered each time loop, at least every one that Daisy had woken him for. In every loop, Sousa had been there by her side when she’d awakened. Any time she asked him for help with some new attempt to escape the storm, he had jumped into action. Daisy didn’t know it, and Coulson wouldn’t tell her - couldn’t break her heart, couldn’t do that to her - but Sousa had sacrificed himself to save her life about a dozen times. In the loop following each of his deaths, Daisy had left him sleeping, unwilling to put him in more danger, and when she spoke to Coulson about it, her voice was full of sorrow, gratitude, and wonder at the man who gave his life to protect her. _

_ In one of the very early loops, they had been trying to find a way to remove the time drive from the ship entirely. It hadn’t worked, hadn’t been possible. The time drive had protected itself. Sousa had been injured badly, pushing Daisy out of the way and taking the full and lethal force of an energy surge. Daisy had stayed firmly by his side as his body began to shut down. Neither of them had paid any attention to Coulson standing not far away, his heart breaking at the sight - or at least, programming that felt like heartbreak.  _

_ Tears had rolled silently down her cheeks, and she had gripped Sousa’s hand tightly in her own, promising him that he’d be okay soon, that she’d wake up again and he’d be fine, that she wouldn’t let this happen again. She’d leaned in and kissed him softly, and he kissed her back with all the strength he could muster, eyes locked on her, determined for her face to be the last thing he saw.  _

_ She’d pressed her forehead against his and bit back a sob as his breathing stopped, and then the time drive made that all-too-familiar sound and the next thing Coulson knew, he was waking up in his charging bay, Daisy standing in front of him with a broken look on her face. He’d thrown his arms around her and held her tight. _

_ “It’s okay, Daisy. We won’t let that happen again,” Coulson had assured her, feeling her nod against his shoulder. After a few moments like that, they’d broken apart and turned their attention back to the problem at hand. And Daisy herself had died in that loop, despite Coulson’s best efforts to prevent it, and she no longer remembered that Sousa had thrown himself into danger for her, that she had wept as he died in her arms, that she had kissed him before the life left his body. And Coulson would never tell her. _


	6. Fitz - 7x13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitz had seen it before it even happened.

After recovering Alya from the containment pod, and letting it sink in that their ordeal had finally come to an end, Fitz heaved a sigh of relief. He had spent so much time studying the Time Stream, and worrying about what was to come. It was hard to believe they had all made it through. Yes, Deke was gone, stuck in another timeline - but he wasn't really gone forever, was he? And yes, the team was destined to splinter apart from here on out. But his friends were safe, his family was safe, and he was ready for the normal life that lay before him.

The group had mostly reconvened on the Zephyr, with Mack and Yo-Yo heading off to make contact with another SHIELD base to debrief on the multiple dangers that had just been headed off. Jemma held their daughter in her arms and puttered around the lab, showing her some of the safer gadgets and watching Alya’s eyes light up. Fitz knew, even without his knowledge of the possible outcomes of the future, that his little girl would grow up with a love for science and technology. 

A noise caught his attention, and he peered out of the doorway of the lab to see Daisy down the hallway, held firmly in the arms of the legendary Daniel Sousa, the man out of time. Daisy whispered something into his ear, and he hugged her tighter for a moment before pulling back just far enough to kiss her passionately. Daisy responded in kind, wrapping her arms around his neck, and Fitz turned back into the lab to give his friend privacy.

Fitz knew about him from his studies at the Academy, as did all other SHIELD agents. But Fitz also knew of him from his studies of the Time Stream. In nearly every potential course of events, the team encountered Sousa in their travels to the past and plucked him from the timeline to save his life, instead of letting him die in 1955 as the history books said.

And in every timeline that he joined the team, Fitz had seen him and Daisy form a connection, quickly finding an equal in one another despite their vast differences. Fitz had known for a long time that chances were high that this journey would lead to his friend finding a loving partner. He smiled broadly at the realization that this had come to pass.

“What is it?” Jemma asked as she approached him, seeing his expression.

“Nothing,” he said, leaning in to kiss his wife and ruffle his daughter’s hair, eliciting a giggle from the girl. “Just...happy.”


End file.
